The Leopard Man (1943) a Val Lewton Horror / Thriller / Crime Noir

Directed by Jacques Tourneur (I Walked With A Zombie, Out Of The Past, Cat People) 

Written by Ardel Wray with additional dialogue by Edward Dein and based on the novel Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich. 

Produced by Val Lewton. Cinematography by Robert De Grasse (Crack-Up, Born To Kill, The Clay Pigeon, Bodyguard) and Music by Roy Webb. 

The film stars Dennis O'Keefe as Jerry Manning, Margo as Clo-Clo (Gabriella), Jean Brooks as Kiki Walker, Isabel Jewell as Maria - Fortune Teller, James Bell as Dr. Galbraith, Margaret Landry as Teresa Delgado, Abner Biberman as Charlie How-Come, Tuulikki Paananen as Consuelo Contreras (as Tula Parma) as Ben Bard as Roblos - the Police Chief.

Dennis O'Keefe as Jerry Manning

Jean Brooks as Kiki Walker

Margo (Maria Margarita Guadalupe Teresa Estella Castilla Bolado y O'Donnell) as Clo-Clo

Ariel Heath as Eloise

Margaret Landry as Teresa Delgado

Abner Biberman as Charlie How-Come

Isabell Jewel as The Fortune Teller

Story

Noirsville, New Mexico. (some location shots but mostly the RKO backlot New Mexico). The backstage of Del Pueblo a classy outdoor nightclub. Back in the dressing rooms, Clo-Clo who does a Spanish dancer act, is practicing with her castanets. This is loud enough that it's driving her rival, KiKi Walker, in the dressing room next door nuts. Clo-Clo does it on purpose. 

Kiki Walker [to the cigarette girl]: It may sound like music to her. I can do better with my teeth in a cold shower.

Jerry Manning is a publicity man working for KiKi. He comes up with a way to upstage Clo-Clo. He rents a black leopard  from Charlie How Come, a Native American carnival show operator who bills himself as The Leopard Man. He brings the leopard into the dressing room to show Kiki. 

He tells her that she can make her entrance during Clo-Clo's dance and all eyes will be turned on her.

So while Clo-Clo is doing her act KiKi shows up in a black dress with the leopard on a leash. She brings the performance to a halt. 

t starts going Noirsville when an angry Clo-Clo snaps her castanets at the leopard who bolts. It rips the leash from KiKi's hand. The cat escapes into the night clawing a waiter on the way out. Jerry has to explain everything to the cops and to Ckarlie that he lost his cat.

A posse

A posse is formed by Roblos the Chief of Police to recapture the cat. Here we also meet Native American Charlie How-Come the "Leopard Man" of the title. Charlie rented the leopard to Jerry for ten dollars. Charlie tells Jerry that banging pans and flashing lights is not the way to catch a cat. The noise and lights would just frighten him.

Clo-Clo heads out into the night. While walking through the sleepy town she passes the fortune tellers. The fortune teller call out telling her to pick a card. Clo-Clo picks a card then throws it at fortune teller.

Later that evening, Teresa a young girl is sent by her mother to get cornmeal for her fathers breakfast. She is afraid because the word has spread that the leopard is loose. 

She gets to the store in her small neighborhood but it is already closed. So she must cross the arroyo under the railroad tracks and go to the store that stays open later on the other side. 

This plot scenario provides two of the most famous, often shown Visual example, of low budget Noir terror, that are found in the productions of Val Lewton.

Teresa, after getting frightened by a passing train, makes it to the store gets the corn meal and on the way back runs into the leopard. 

She runs towards her house. Making the door and finding it locked is killed there by the cat. All we, the audience hear and see are the the sounds of Teresa running, screaming, and pounding on the closed door, a final scream and a thump against the door and then looking down at the sill we see blood flowing under the locked door.  

The death of Teresa Delgado sours the town a bit on Jerry and KiKi, though it was an unfortunate accident. Jerry feeling responsible volunteers to help join the posse to try and now find the "killer" leopard. 

Jerry also meets a the mild mannered Dr. Galbraith the head of a local history museum who explains that the cat would head for the open country. 

When Consuelo, another local girl is killed in a quiet cemetery while waiting for her boyfriend, Jerry questions, because of the situation, whether the cat is really the culprit. 

Birthday girl Consuelo

Killed in Cemetery waiting for her boyfriend

Dr. Galbraith re-enforces the notion. He says it could be anybody. Some local nut job who finally flipped. He even tells Jerry that Charlie likes to drink till he blacks out. He knows cats, it could even be Charlie. 

Even Charlie, now with second thoughts and feeling appalled by the though of that, wants the chief of police to lock him up, if he is responsible. 

Meanwhile Clo-Clo is still getting foreboding fortune teller readings. The cards portend that some older man that she will meet will give her a lot of money. but the next card that is flipped over is the ace of spades. Death.

At the club Clo-Clo meets a rich older gentleman, he buys her champagne, they have an entertaining evening. Ay the end of the night he slips her a hundred dollar bill. 

(Here, because of the MPPC you got to wonder what is really going on it will be interesting to read Woolrich's novel to find out.

It all goes Noirsville when Clo-Clo is murdered after she goes back outside to retrace her steps back to the club to try and find the hundred dollar bill she tucked into the top of her stocking. 

Noirsville

I've never read Woolrich's Black Alibi, the novel takes place in a South American city the film moves it all to New Mexico. Again Woolrich writes mostly Noir Nightmares, nightmares don't make sense but I expect just as I found with other Woolrich works that were filmed, there's probably a whole new story if they'd actually followed Black Alibi.

This Film is more Thriller, Crime, Suspense Noir than Horror. It probably got classified as a Horror because of the blood under the door sequence. If you think about it this film has a lot of similarities to Hitchcock's Psycho. 

All the actors do a good job and the film is entertaining. Enjoy the visuals. 7/10

*      Notice going fishing for a few be back Monday ;-)     *